Excellent Illustrated Series on Grist: Big Ag Fights to Keep Out Troubled Eyes

If you’re not already following Susie Cagle’s reporting over at Grist, you should be. Like — now. She has a fantastic new series of articles investigating ag-gag bills. They combine Cagle’s reporting and interviews with her talent for illustrations. There’s also an interactive map about ag-gag laws, and a fun flow chart.

Here’s an excerpt from “A gag too far”:

There’s no way these bills are going to stand up to public scrutiny or legal challenges. And in the meantime, I think all movements seem to be responding very forcefully rather than being afraid of this,” says Potter. “Ag-gag bills have already backfired in terms of the massive outcry of public opposition. And if they go through I think they’ll also backfire in motivating people to do undercover investigations on their own, motivating people to get active in a wide variety of ways, and really invigorating a movement that feels like they’re being censored.”

With so many ag-gags defeated in recent years, activists have reason to be optimistic. But even in some states that have defeated ag-gags, the bills keep returning for another shot. In rallying the opposition, these bills may be the biggest thing to happen to the animal protection movement in recent memory, but they may also prove to be the movement’s biggest test.